Mary Baxevanis was born 25 January 1928 in New York City. Her parents, George Baxevanis and Penelope Milonadakis, were both first-generation Greek-Americans, whose families had migrated with the fall of the Ottoman Empire from an area that is now western Turkey. Mary was an only child, but her mother was the youngest of seven so she grew up in a family of many aunts, uncles, and cousins, most of whom lived in the New York area.
Greek was Mary's first language, and she didn't learn English until she started attending school. But that didn't stop her from excelling in the schools she attended – first elementary school and then Walton High School – in the Bronx. By the time she finished high school, she had skipped the equivalent of two grade levels. She went on to Hunter College, majoring in chemistry, and graduating in 1948 at the age of 20.
After college, she went to work as a librarian at Interchemical Corporation, which at that time had its headquarters and research laboratory in Manhattan. In addition to her work in the library, she also was an editor of the company's magazine, Interchemical Review. This was also where she met her future husband, Joseph W. Dehn Jr., who was employed there as a research chemist.
Mary and Joe were married 28 June 1953, and made their home in an apartment in Bayside, NY. Their first son, Joseph W. Dehn III, was born 29 June 1954. Their second son, George John Dehn, was born 20 November 1956. By this time they had moved to a larger apartment in the same complex.
In 1962, the family moved about five miles to the house where Joe had grown up, just outside the city, in Great Neck, NY -- his parents having decided it was time for them to move to a smaller house.
As her children grew older, Mary returned to work as a librarian, and earned a Masters in Library Science from Queens College. Starting at the Great Neck Library as a temp, filling in odd days at branches and in the reference room, she progressed to full time positions and rose to be an Assistant Director, in charge of Technical Services. She also continued her professional education, earning a doctorate from Nova University.
With her sons out of college and even after her retirement, and then Joe's death in 2006, she continued to live in the same house in Great Neck until 2018, when she moved to an apartment in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, just a few blocks from her son George.
Mary became a grandmother with the birth of her son George's son Andrew Joseph Dehn in 1991. She also became grandmother to her son Joe's step-children, Daniel Evers and Pamela Evers.Music was an important part of Mary's life. Having studied the violin as a child, she took this up again after her children had grown. She enjoyed playing with several community orchestras as well as in smaller string ensembles. Later she also learned to play the viola.
Travel was also a very important part of her life. She liked to tell of visiting Cuba with her college friends ("before Castro"). Once her sons were old enough, the family started traveling in widening circles, first around the northeast, then further in the US, and then in Europe.
She continued traveling for most of the rest of her life, with her husband Joe, with her son George and other family members, and on her own. Over the years she managed to visit almost every continent and dozens of countries, including Australia, Austria, Belgium, China, Czechoslovakia, Egypt, England, France, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, and Turkey.
She was a lovely lady, always gracious. We will remember that she enjoyed family gatherings and celebrations. Our last visit was at Mickey and Jack's wedding, she was all smiles and so pleased to be included. Mary passed on an Easter tradition of tapping eggs (to see whose will break) that we all delight in each year. We remind the younger folk where it came from so I'm sure she will live on in their memories for decades to come. I always enjoyed looking at her collection when we visited, and I just decorated our mantel with an owl motif in her memory.
